From strip to screen: ZYRUP counts down the Top 5 most exciting comic-related properties coming to TV.
For many of us, television has not been the same ever since the dawn of superhero TV shows and comic book based properties. The CW currently dominates the online chatter with shows like Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash and newly acquired Supergirl recently kicking off their seasons.
Marvel Studios has also collaborated with Netflix, so we can now enjoy gritty, premium-content like Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage that focus on superheroes at the street level, showing what Supers can do to fight muggings and gangsters, not alien-level destruction.
It’s exciting to speculate about which comic will get a screen adaptation next, and many have been announced just this past New York Comic-con. So buckle your seatbelt as we bring you the top 5 most exciting comic-related properties coming to TV real soon.
5. Legion
Wait, what?! Professor X’s (from the X-men) secret son is getting his own TV show? While the X-characters have been a little late in getting their time on the small screen, fans of mutants and FOX-Marvel (that includes Deadpool) can rejoice.
From the trailer, we know the tone of the series is going to be quirky and fun. Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey fame plays schizophrenic David Haller who thinks he’s lost his mind, but who may in fact be one of the most powerful mutants ever known. He has multiple powers derived from his multiple personalities which include Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Rec.
What makes this series one to look out for would be the involvement of series creator Noah Hawley. He brought us the Emmy-winning outstanding miniseries, Fargo. This puts Legion is very capable hands and definitely a show to look out for. Legion is set to premiere in February 2017, and run for eight episodes over its first season.
4. Iron Fist
With Iron Fist, Netflix continues its lineup of street-level Marvel heroes that’s sure to have you binge watching the entire series in one weekend just like you did the past Marvel Studios Netflix shows.
The trailer promises lots of action, lots of martial arts and lots of fist fights.
Finn Jones (from Game of Thrones) plays Danny Rand returning to New York after a year of training and isolation in K’un-Lun, a fictional mystical city in Asia, where he is determined to regain control of Rand Industries which was taken from him. All this while at the same time taking down the forces of organised crime in the city.
Iron Fist is scheduled for release on March 17, 2017.
3. The Defenders
It comes down to this. 13 hours times 5 seasons (two seasons from Daredevil) equals to countless all-nighters that have all amounted to the coming of The Defenders.
An event in New York will bring these four heroes — Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist — together. Nobody knows what or how exactly, but we’re pretty sure the mystical assassin group known as The Hand has something to do with it.
All we know so far is that none other than Sigourney-freaking-Weaver has been cast as the main villain of the series. Weaver best known for her portrayal of the bad-ass Ellen Ripley in the Alien series of movies and also starring in the original Ghostbusters franchise.
We’ve got our hopes up that this will be a huge Netflix event. The eight-episode event is set to premiere sometime in 2017.
2. The Punisher
When Marvel Studios announced that The Punisher, was getting his own series, I think I actually shed a tear. It’s not very often that a studio makes an entire series from a fan-favourite character.
Coming out of Daredevil Season 2, Jon Bernthal (from The Walking Dead) plays Frank Castle, who doesn’t have the same no-kill code as the rest of the Marvel/Netflix heroes. He walks the fine line between sociopathic murderer and anti-hero vigilante and fights crime “by any means necessary”.
We’re excited to find out what THAT means.
Netflix and Bernthal himself are being very tight-lipped about this series, but we will have to wait a long time to see for ourselves, as The Punisher is scheduled to be released in 2017, after The Defenders.
1. Riverdale
Two words: COLE. SPROUSE.
We’ll admit, this isn’t exactly superhero property but this comic has a special place in many a millennial’s heart. Greg Berlanti, who helms the rest of the Arrow-verse shows, is set to be executive producer. While this is set in it’s own insulated universe, we’re sure Berlanti will bring over his mastery of adapting comic books to television to Archie and friends.
What has many excited is the return of Suite-life twin Cole Sprouse to television as he plays Jughead. Joining this American teen drama television series are other beloved Archie Comics characters like Archie himself, Betty, Veronica and Reggie.
The series is titled Riverdale, after Riverdale High, where the characters go to school. They experience the ups and downs of high school romance and drama, what the CW is best known for, but with a touch of mystery as strange unexplained incidents start happening in Riverdale.
The pilot is set to premiere on 26 January 2017.
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